Super Bowl: No TV Record, But Stronger Streaming

Despite some high-profile on-field talent -- Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos and Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers, and a fairly close game -- all this wasn’t enough for a Super Bowl TV record for CBS.

The game pulled in 111.9 million Nielsen viewers, down 2% from the Super Bowl 2015, which earned 114.4 million viewers; this year’s event was the third-most-watched TV program in U.S. history.

CBS says streaming “Super Bowl 50” on laptops, desktops, tablets, connected TV devices and mobile phones -- pull in an average minute audience of 1.4 million.

CBS also took in 3.96 million unique viewers, which was higher than a year ago. Last year, NBC streaming of the game on “NBC Sports Live Extra,” grabbed 2.5 million unique visitors. This was up 9% from Fox’s 2014 results for the Super Bowl

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For the first time since the big football game was digitally streamed a few years ago, CBS Interactive sold live stream ads together with broadcast commercials.

Getting an average $5 million for an in-game 30-second commercial, helped boost CBS ad coffers. Adding in seven hours of pre-game Super Bowl programming, plus post game programming, to the game itself, CBS pulled in $475.8 million on the day, according to iSpot.tv.

CBS’ two late-night talk shows followed the game -- posting their best results ever.

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” took in: 21.12 million viewers; an 8.4 rating in adults 25-54; 7.9 in adults 18-49; and 7.5 in adults 18-34. “The Late Late Show with James Corden” followed, earning 4.97 million viewers; 2.0 rating in adults 25-54; 1.7 in adults 18-49; and 1.6 in adults 18-34.

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